CLAS Testing in LA

http://articles.latimes.com/1995-04-18/local/me-55884_1_california-learning-assessment-system
Just to show how the problem of assessment abuse cannot be laid just at the feet of the school districts, this link is to story from 1995, when a new secondary standardized test was introduced and quickly scrapped mostly due public opposition. It was actually a big step in the right direction, looking to assess higher up Bloom's taxonomy, much less able to be specifically taught to, and trying to move curriculum away from memorization and toward critical-thinking skills.
The scores were so low in the first couple of rounds, which of course knowing what we know about the system would be expected, but rather than being challenged to improve the scores, the choruses of whining and kvetching cowed the state into scrapping the test and moving backwards.
We just have to have holistic solutions to these problems in which everyone looks courageously and clearly at what their roles are in the dysfunction.